Sunday 31 August2014
Live in harmony
Year A - Pentecost 12- 54A
The Mission of the Methodist Church of New Zealand / Our Church’s mission in Aotearoa / New Zealand is to reflect and proclaim the transforming love of God as revealed in Jesus Christ and declared in the Scriptures. We are empowered by the Holy Spirit to serve God in the world. The Treaty of Waitangi is the covenant establishing our nation on the basis of a power-sharing partnership and will guide how we undertake mission.Links / Ctrl+Click on the links below to go directly to the text you require
Readings
Introduction
Preaching thoughts
Illustrations
Broaderpreparation
Creativity
Music
Prayers
Communal sharing
Children
PowerPoint
New Resource
Readings
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/ Exodus 3.1-15God speaks to Moses from a burning bush and reveals himself as “I Am”. He calls Moses to lead his people out of Egypt and promises to be with him.
Psalm 105.1-6,23-26,45c This psalm is an encouragement to whole-heartedly worship the Lord. Trust his mighty power and remember the way he has led his people in the past.
Romans12.9-21 Paul gives guidelines for living the Christian life. Act with love, respect and forgiveness.
Matthew16.21-28Jesus speaks to the disciples about his suffering, death and resurrection. Peter objects and Jesus rebukes him then tells the disciples that they must take up the cross to follow him.
Daffodil Day. This Sunday is the nearest to Daffodil Day (Friday 29 August). If you didn’t acknowledge this last week, you may want to take a moment in your service to pray for those battling cancer, and for medical professionals and hospice workers supporting cancer sufferers and their families. It may also be appropriate to give thanks for the memory of those whose lives have been lost. You’ll find resources on the Cancer Society website and the Society will provide daffodils if you wish to take up an offering for them.
Season of Creation - Creation Day31 August 2014
Creation Day within the Christian world is a time of recognition and celebration of the work of God, the Creator. The beginning of spring is an appropriate time to celebrate Creation Day as spring is traditionally viewed as the beginning of the growing season and a time of new life. In this time of renewal, we celebrate life, its origin, and remind people that, "In the beginning God created the heaven and the earth..." Ideas for churches are available from the Creation Day website.
Introduction / Background
Ctrl+Click to follow links / Romans
Today we conclude our series through the second half of Paul’s letter to the Romans. Having explained (in last week’s passage) that we are all gifted for service, he now goes on to tell us of the atmosphere of genuine love which is to be the context of our service. This love of which he speaks is no vague theory. He lists a set of specific instructions that show what love looks like in action.
For a brief introduction to the letter see the 13 July ‘14 edition of “10 Minutes on a Tuesday”. An outline of the whole series is printed below:
Living as believers
13 July ‘14Romans 8.1-11Live in the Spirit47A
20 July ‘14Romans 8.12-25Live with hope48A
27 July ‘14Romans 8.26-39Live in God’s love49A
3 August ‘14Romans 9.1-5Live for others50A
10 August ‘14Romans 10.5-15Live to tell others51A
17 August ‘14Romans 11.1-2, 29-32Live in God’s mercy52A
24 August ‘14Romans 12.1-8Live in the body53A
31 August ‘14Romans 12.9-21Live in harmony54A
A primitive Christian code
The structure of Romans 12.9-13 have a linguistic pattern that differs from the surrounding verses. Scholars have suggested that Paul is quoting a primitive Christian code. If that is correct,we have here a list of rules that those belonging to the earliest Christian church sought to live by. They are designed to give practical outcomes to the ideal of living as a loving community:
Be sincere in your love for others
Hate everything that is evil
Hold tight to everything that is good
Love each other as brothers and sisters
Honour others more than you do yourself
Never give up
Eagerly follow the Holy Spirit
Serve the Lord
Let your hope make you glad
Be patient in time of trouble
Never stop praying
Take care of God’s needy people
Welcome strangers into your home
Matthew
For those who are following the gospel stream, the previous “10 Minutes on a Tuesday” resource for Year A can be found in the archived Refresh section of the New Zealand Methodist website. You will find there the following series through Matthew’s gospel:
Jesus: Parables, miracles and oracles
10 July‘11Matthew 13.1-9, 18-23A story about a farmer47A
17 July ‘11Matthew 13.24-30, 36-43Weeds in the wheat48A
24 July‘11Matthew 13.31-33, 44-52Parables of the Kingdom49A
31 July‘11Matthew 14.13-21Feeding 500050A
7 August ‘11Matthew 14.22-33Walking on water51A
14 August ‘11Matthew 15. 10-28A woman’s faith52A
21 August ‘11Matthew 16.13-20Who is Jesus?53A
28 August ‘11Matthew 16.21-28Take up your cross54A
Further lectionary based resources can be found on Bill Peddie’s blogsite.
Preaching thoughts and Questions
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* Paul’s source material now moves from the primitive Christian code as explained above, tothe gospel tradition of Jesus’ teaching in his Sermon on the Mount. / There is a logical connection between Paul’s description of how we are to be the body of Christ (last week’s passage) and today’s verses which tell us what we need to do to show the love of God to the world. Together we are to act in such a way as to be Christ in the world. To this end Paul gives us some practical advice:
Love others
“Be sincere in your love,” he says(Romans 12.9). You’d think that, of all things, lovewould be among the most straight-forward and easy to understand. It is something at the heart of the Christian faith. We are all familiar with those important Christian statements like:
-God is love
-Love the Lord your God
-Love one another
We’ve heard them repeated often enough and this love is universally understood – right?
Wrong! The word “love” has been hi-jacked and at times even turned into a monster that devours people. Books and movies tell us that love is that wonderful emotion that makes us feel good. And it can be elusive, so we are told that when it comes we must pursue it, even to the end of the world. It comes for some when they “fall in love” and others the feeling may come when they sing those slow worship songs in church.
Lovely though this feeling may be, it has nothing to do with the love of which Paul speaks. This feelings-based love is all about me and how I feel. In other words it is selfish and, it can be disastrous if we allow it to steer our course. In their selfish pursuit of it many have trampled and hurt othersor created division and chaos.
By contrast the love of which Paul speaks leads us to “honour others more than you do yourself.” This love is based on respect for others. It is demonstrated in acts of service and it createspeace and harmony among people.
So Paul writes, “Be sincere in your love for others” (literally “be un-hypocritical”).
Can love ever be hypocritical or insincere?
Yes, it can. We can pretend interest in others to win their favour. We can listen to the needs of others with no desire to lift a finger to help. This passage warns us against the sort of love that seeks only some gain for oneself.
The passage then moves us on, to show us genuine love in action. He tells his readers to…
Use your home
“Take care of God’s needy people and welcome strangers into your home.” (Romans 12.13). Other translations of this verse tell us to “practise hospitality.” If the twenty first century mind can misunderstand the nature of true love, the same may be said of hospitality.
Hospitality can be mistakenly linked with showing off our skills at social entertaining, being gracious and unflustered hosts and hostesses, displaying an immaculate household to others, or making a display of our gourmet cooking ability. All these things make for great television but they are definitely not what is being referred to here.
Christian hospitality focusses on the needs of the guest not on the qualities of the host. An elegant host who is trying hard to impress may leave a stranger feeling cold. By contrast a host with a warm, welcoming heart who invites a stranger into a messy room to share pizza from a box on the lounge floor offers true hospitality. By focussing on the needs of the guest, a host signals acceptance and inclusiveness. Of such things church fellowship is built.
If we each consider ourselves to be stewards of the home in which we live, we will make it available for the Lord’s use. It will be a place not just for me and mine but also a place where others will find a listening ear and loving acceptance… even when our house is not the most palatial on the block and even when we are busy with other things.
Being hospitable and making new friends is one thing, but you can’t get along with everyone. What are we to do about those who mistreat us? Paul now turns his attention* to how to…
Overcome evil
His advice here is so counter-cultural that, if it was practised, it would change the world. There is an alternative to seeking to retaliate when someone hurts us. It is the way that Christ taught. It is the way of forgiveness.
We don’t have to read far in the newspapers to realise the immeasurable harm done when parties who are at enmity get involved in a cycle of mutual retaliation. When we return evil for evil we destroy the path that leads to reconciliation. When we return evil for evil we invite the misery associated with evil actions to come and dwell with us.
For those who seek to live under Christ’s rule Paul advises, “bless everyone who mistreats you” (Romans 12.14) and “defeat evil with good” (Romans 12.21). By taking this alternative route and treating people who have hurt us with kindness, it is possible that we will make them feel so ashamed that they will have a change of heart. Needless to say, that does not always happen. But the practice of blessing those who mistreat us does prevent the spread of evil and stops it from dwelling with us. This is practical Christianity – and once again to actually do these things we must divorce ourselves from our own selfish feelings. Of course I don’t feel like smiling at someone who has hurt me. Of course I don’t feel like offering a helping hand to someone who has been mean. But by acting in just these ways, we break the cycle of enmity and demonstrate the forgiveness of our Lord.
The end of Paul’s letter has given us some practical guidelines about how to live in harmony, day by day, as God’s people in a less than perfect world:
The love of which Paul speaks is counter-intuitive – it involves honouring others more than we do ourselves.
The hospitality we are asked to offer shifts the focus away from ourselves as hosts to the needs of those we seek to serve.
We are asked to overcome the evil that we encounter, not by responding in kind, but with the redeeming power of forgiveness and kindness.
Illustrations /
Stories
/ Philadelphia: love and creamcheese
Our reading from Romans today introduces the Greek word philadelphia which brings to mind five related uses:
- Paul appeals to the Roman Christians to “love each other as brothers and sisters” Romans 12.10 CEV. The Greek word he uses is philadelphiawhich is literally“brotherly love” - from philos, "love" or "friendship", and adelphos, "brother". What Paul is saying is that we can take the love that is experienced in the ideal nuclear family and see this as a metaphor of our love for one another in the church.
- Philadelphia was a town in Asia Minor,and the church there was one of the seven churches in the book of Revelation (1.11 and 3.7-10). Taking its character from its name, the church is praised for keeping the Lord’s command and having patient endurance. This Philadelphia is in present day Turkey and is now known as the town of Alasehir. It was established in 189 BCE by King Eumenes II of Pergamon and the name arose from the use of the word in a literal rather than metaphorical sense. It was named to signifythe love that Eumenes had for his brother Attalus.
- The Philadelphia that we are more aware of, is the one on the Eastern Coast of the United States of America. In 1681, in partial repayment of a debt, Charles II of England granted William Penn (1644-1718) a charter for what would become the Pennsylvania Colony. In 1682 Penn founded and named the city Philadelphia to serve as capital of the Colony. As a Quaker, Penn had experienced religious persecution and wanted his colony to be a place where anyone could worship freely. This tolerancewas greater than that which wasafforded by most other colonies and also led to better relationships with the local native tribes.
- Philadelphia is also a name given to cream cheese – a soft, mild cheese with high fat content. Cream cheese first began to be produced in England and France in the sixteenth and seventeenth centuries. By the nineteenth century Philadelphia had developed a reputation for the fine cream cheese produced on family farms in the surrounding area. New York dairyman William Lawrence was the first to mass produce cream cheese. He added cream to the recipe to give a richer tasting product. A distributor began to market this under the brand name Philadelphia Cream Cheese, not because it came from Philadelphia, but because he was seeking to trade on the good reputation of the small producers in the Philadelphia area. In 1928 the company merged with Kraft.
- Philadelphia is the name of a movie released in 1993 (PG) starring Tom Hanks and Denzel Washington. This introduces another different take on brotherly love. The emotionally charged plot tells the story of a lawyer who is fired from a corporate law firm because he has AIDS. It was among the first mainstream movies to handle the themes of homosexuality and AIDS and, as such, became part of the shift in public opinion. Hanks received an Oscar for his leading role.
Broader / Personal
Preparation
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follow links / Meet the parents (2000 – M)
This is a comedy film in which the main character Greg (played by Ben Stiller) visits the home of his girlfriend’s parents seeking to get her father’s permission before he proposes marriage. It’s not one of the great movies of all time, but there are some lovely clips that could be used to introduce the theme of hospitality, including this one which can be viewed on the Wingclips website and can be purchased from there.The whole movie can be viewed on YouTube.
Creativity /
Visual Aids
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follow link / Walk the talk
This excellent drama is based on our reading from Romans today. The script is free from dramatix.org and it is suitable for use in your worship service. The theme is“loving without hypocrisy”.
Music
AA: Alleluia Aotearoa
CMP: Complete Mission Praise
COC: Carol our Christmas
HIOS: Hope is our Song
FFS: Faith Forever Singing
MHB: Methodist Hymn Book
H&P: Hymns and Psalms
S1: The Source
S2: The Source 2
S3: The Source 3
S4: The Source 4
SIS: Scripture in Song
WHV: With heart and Voice
WOV: With One Voice
WOV = AHB / Hymns & Songs
A new commandment I give unto you WOV 571; SIS 12; CMP1; S1 23
Beauty for brokenness CMP 806; S1 37
Brother, sister let me serve you SIS 256; AA 8
Christ from whom all blessings flow MHB 720; WOV 364; H&P 764
Come celebrate the gift of life HIOS 17
Come down O love divine MHB 273; WOV 310; H&P 281; CMP 89; S1 71
Come you sinners, poor and needy S2 667
Could I bring the words of comfort S2 668
Filled with the Spirit’s power, with one accord WOV 328; H&P 314
Forgive, forgive us, holy God! FFS 20
Forgive our sins as we forgive WOV 564; H&P 134
Forth in your name MHB 509; WOV 480; H&P 381
God forgave my sin SIS 41; CMP 181; S1 123
God of the galaxies AA 54
Great ring of light AA 57
I, the Lord of sea and sky CMP 857; S1 246
Let there be love SIS 322; CMP 411; S1 317
Love divine MHB 431; H&P 267; CMP 449; S1 343
Make me a captive Lord MHB 596; WOV 528; H&P 714
Make me a channel of your peace H&P 776; CMP 456; S1 348
O God, beyond our knowledge HIOS 71
O the deep, deep love of Jesus CMP 522; S1 414
There’s a wideness in God’s mercy WOV 72; H&P 230; CMP 683
Prayers / Collect
God of all creation,
you call all peoples of the earth into your kingdom.
Grant that we, with young and old of all nations,
may boldly confess Jesus Christ as Lord;
to whom, with you and the Holy Spirit,
be all honour and praise, now and forever. Amen.
© The Methodist Worship Book (Peterborough, England: Methodist Publishing House, 1999)
The Lord can be trusted
Praise the Lord
and pray in his name!
Tell everyone
what he has done.
Sing praises to the Lord!
Tell about his miracles.
Celebrate and worship
his holy name
with all your heart.
Trust the Lord
and his mighty power.
Remember his miracles
and all his wonders
and his fair decisions.
You belong to the family
of Abraham, his servant;
you are his chosen ones,
the descendants of Jacob.
The Lord is our God,
bringing justice
everywhere on earth.
He will never forget
his agreement or his promises,
not in thousands of years.
Shout praises to the Lord!
Psalm 105.1-8 & 45c Contemporary English Version (CEV)Copyright © 1995 by American Bible Society
Peace costs
READER ONE: Jesus said “My peace I leave with you”
READER TWO: Not as the world gives
READER THREE: We all like the idea of peace
READER ONE: It forms part of what everyone believes this world needs
READER TWO: We all want world peace
PAUSE
READER ONE: But peace costs
READER TWO: It asks that revenge ceases
READER ONE: It demands that power struggles stop
READER TWO: It says “Enough!” before the utter end is reached
READER ONE: Peace costs
PAUSE
READER THREE: Jesus said “I come not with a sword”